Protect The City (Cause I Will Destroy It)
by MainLioness
Summary: Team Arrow struggles to find their footing after a fire takes everyone's favorite IT Expert away from them, and amongst their grieving comes along a new player in town that everyone now is calling 'Cinder'. What does this extraordinary assassin have to do with the fire that killed Felicity? But more important, And why does Amanda question Felicity's death?
1. Tragedy

_**Prologue**_

_This warehouse was quiet and eerie, like the kind you see in the movies. It was a shady spot that _looked_ like the kind that people sold stuff on the black market in and wouldn't have been that much less creepy even if it was day time. And under the cover of night time was just… a do not enter without all the obvious movie signs. _

_With that in mind, Felicity rolled her eyes as her and Sara crouched behind a crate…of object's Felicity was sure were guns… eyeing the two guys currently guarding the small back door. And just as she was starting to get comfortable (Read: not!) a flash of green dropped down and immediately chocked out the guards into unconsciousness. _

"_Took you long enough," Sara offered standing up, helping Felicity to her feet. _

"_Traffic," was Oliver synthesized retort which Felicity snorted at pulling out her favorite toll in probably the whole wide world. The Skeleton Key. _

"_You would think for an arrow slinging vigilante, you'd find your way around that," she mumbled to herself rolling her eyes. _

_Sara and Oliver both shared that same look of amusement they normally adorned when it came to her. Felicity opened the door but before she could enter, Oliver grabbed her arm, nodding toward the top of her head where her mask lined up. _

_Felicity, unlike Oliver and Sara, didn't have a superhero costume to wear, so she was stuck wearing the same outfit from when they blew up the Applied Science Building. She really hated that mask but she pulled it over her face anyway before entering._

_The inside of the warehouse was all shadow, Felicity noticed. With crates, forming as a wall from where she was to the middle of it, she couldn't really see what the rest of the place looked like. To her right there were metal stairs and to her left was just… darkness._

"_I'll take Felicity to the office and then I'll meet up with you, Roy, and Thea to have our chat with Mr. Henry," Oliver said to Sara, who just nodded in reply. Felicity turned to go take the stairs already knowing that the office was on the second floor, but before she could really even take one step, Oliver grabbed her by her waist and she was going up. _

_Damn Oliver and his indifference to heights._

_When they landed, Felicity didn't miss the opportunity to hit him, to which he just replied with a smirk. She rolled her eyes and looked around the upper level. The office was against the back wall which was probably about fifty feet away and in between them were rows of metal walkways. Already knowing Oliver wouldn't take the _logical _route and _walk _she waited for him to aim his bow and get them to the other side. The landing was a lot smoother now that she was expecting it. Oliver, turning to keep watch, waited for Felicity to unlock the door. _

_Felicity let out a breath now that she was standing there. She was on her own now, of course Diggle would be keeping watch on her via security camera, like the Merlyn job, but that only made her feel slightly better. She went to take a step but before she could she felt, Oliver's hand on her shoulder. She turned and looked him in the eyes. Words went unspoken but that was just how things went with them now. Because of his martyrdom and her current relationship, words had to be unspoken. She gave him a small smile that she was sure he could see because of his super ninja eye-sight. He nodded once and then was gone._

_Quickly jumping into action, she turned to the office and immediately went to the desk containing the computer system putting a bug on the tower just in case. Sitting in the- rather comfortable- chair and pulling off her mask, she turned to the monitor working on the password. Felicity turned on her comm._

"_I'm in," she said to all the people on the other side. _

"_Good now we just have to get the evidence on this creep, 'Lisy," was Thea's reply. Thea after the mental brainwash of Malcolm Merlyn and the unstoppable showdown between her and Oliver, had decided to come to team good guys. Now the girls (Sara, Thea, and Felicity) were as close as ever and it felt great to have a group of girlfriends. _

"_That's not all," Oliver's deep voice rang through the com-link," We have to figure out where Henry is. Diggle, I thought you said they were meeting here tonight?"_

"_That's what I was told."_

"_Why would they tell Diggle the wrong time and date?" was Roy's question. It was a question that only took a couple seconds to answer. _

"_It's a trap, Felicity get out of there!"_

"_Give me a minute!" To be honest, she hadn't really been listening to their conversation, lost in her tech world. Paul Henry was a dangerous man who they suspected of human trafficking. She would be lying if she said this case hadn't kept her up at night, and she was going to help stop this fucker if it was the last thing she did._

"_Felicity!"_

"_Look, Oliver. I only need one minute!" she growled, not as intimidatingly as he did, but then again she wasn't intimidated by him anymore. Hadn't been for a long time. _

"_Felicity, we don't have ti-." _

"_I'm done!" she cheered, as she moved to get up from the seat and exit the office but as she opened the door a bomb went off knocking her back._

* * *

"_I'm done!" she yelled, cutting him off and he felt a sigh of relief course through him, he couldn't handle Felicity's stubbornness anytime it came around but the relief didn't last long as a bomb rang through the warehouse and a bunch of men carrying guns, causing Roy, Thea, and Sara to raise their weapon's immediately. The bomb went off directly in between him and…_

"_Felicity," he breathed out. Images of her laying on the slab from their first date ran through his mind. But instead of her red dress, it was her black burglar outfit and this time, she was dead. _

"_The coms are dead," Sara called from beside him and a course of panic went through his spring," you go get Felicity. Roy you go make sure Diggle's alright! Thea and I got these guys!" Roy frowned, not really wanting to be separated from Thea for this obvious trap, but one whispered word from Thea convinced him to duck out of sight. _

_Oliver shot an arrow into the warehouse roof, swinging over the flames until he got to the office door. _

"_Felicity!" He called peering inside through the thick fog and when he heard a groan in front of him, he crouched down to see Felicity's form. _

"_Oliver!" she groaned from her spot on the floor. He moved to pick her off the ground, putting his hand on both sided of her face._

"_Are you okay?" she nodded. _

"_I think working with you has proven how think of a skull I have, figuratively and literally." But Oliver didn't laugh, because he was just realizing how often Felicity did actually hit her head on all the times she was out with him, but before he could get lost into his own thoughts, Felicity reached up and put both her hand on his face. _

"_Hey, I'm okay," she said and looked at him, already knowing what was running through his mind. He nodded once._

"_Let's go," She huffed and pulled on her mask, if only to block the smoke and they exited through the door. It startled her when Oliver drew back his bow, but she came to realized when she saw the person behind this whole thing… Paul Henry. Black suit and all_

"_Well, Mr. Arrow. If it isn't a surprise to see you… well not really." He said pointing a gun at Oliver, while his other hand was in his pocket. _

"_Mr. Henry. Call off your troops!" was Oliver's warning._

"_Or what. You and your girlfriend are going to do what. Last I heard you can't kill me." _

"_I don't think you want to find out." Oliver said, raising his bow a little higher. _

"_No, Mr. Arrow. I don't think _you_ want to find out what I'm capable of," He said pulling out his hand from it pocket producing… a trigger. Oliver released his arrow and for Felicity time seemed to move in slow motion. Right before the arrow connected with Henry's forearm, like it had done The Dodger, he managed to press the button._

_Felicity was a little distracted with the bomb going of DIRECTLY BEHIND HER to worry about Henry's shout of pain. _

_The blast caused Oliver to fall forward, but unfortunately for Felicity, it caused her to roll over the metal railing, directly above the- what looked like- endless flames. _

"_Oliver!" she called grabbing the metal railing just in time. She looked through the bars to see him struggling to get up._

_She was struggling to breath and everything was hot was her only thought as she ripped off her mask, sending it sailing into the fire trying really hard not to look down. Looking at her hand, she tried to lift her other hand up to reach the bar, but found out how hard that actually was as she struggled. She dropped down to her original position of just dangling when the act became too exhausting for her. _

_That didn't really help much as she could feel her fingers starting to slip, despite the texture of her gloves. It was probably irrelevant, but her palms were sweat, partially because of the heat and also the fact that she was dangling above said heat might have been a cause of anxiety. She let out a strangled sound as she tried to lift herself up again but it didn't help the slipping of her fingers as her palm let go of the railing and she was forced to dangle by her fingers. _

_And just when she was excepting the inevitable as a tear slipped down her face, a green gloved hand grabbed her hand, stopping what she was sure was going to be her death. _

"_Oliver," She breathed as she looked up into his blue eyes. His hood had been pushed back and she was instantly reminded of the time in the elevator when Oliver hand pulled her up by one hand before and relief coursed through her veins as more tears flowed to her eyes. _

_Everything was just better with Oliver. _

"_I've got you." _

_He started to pull her up and before she knew what was happening, a tremor shook the railing as he fell forward, loosing Felicity from his grip and just like before, everything moved in slow motion as Oliver and Felicity were forced to watch the distance grow in between them both hands still outstretched toward each other. And amongst all the orange and red hues of the fire, Felicity's all black outfit, and the dirt that formed on her face from debris; what he lost himself in was the endless blue of her eyes which seemed to not have realized that their hands weren't connected to each other anymore._

_Those same blue eyes that had looked up at him with all forms of emotions before, closed, squeezing out more tears, right before accepting the fire that engulfed her every being. _

"_FELICITY!" _

* * *

Oliver's eye's opened from the intensity of the dream that rang through his mind… no not dream… memory. Three weeks to the day had passed since the death of Felicity Smoak and today would be the day of the funeral. It probably would have been sooner except for the lack of a body. The Arson Investigator had said that the fire was to hot and that it was more likely that Felicity's body had been reduced to ash so they were forced to bury an empty casket.

Huffing out a sighed Oliver made his way to the shower and cleaned himself… He had been running on autopilot these past couple of weeks, spending most of his time tracking down Henry, who had managed to escape when the second bomb went off. Oliver had spent most of his time focused on Henry because the alternative was just too damn depressing. For the moment, he didn't want to admit that he didn't know how to survive without Felicity there to push him to be the better man, so he knew what he was going to do when he found Henry.

He was going to kill him.

Sara, Diggle, and Thea openly worried about him while Roy just chose to give him space. The kid was smart. Today was probably the only day he took off of looking for him and last night being the first night he got any real sleep and for that the team was grateful but they knew it wouldn't last long.

He was just buttoning up his shirt when there was a knock, immediately knowing who it was, Oliver called for them to enter.

Thea peering into the room hesitantly, tears already lining the rim of her eyes. She had been doing a lot of crying lately, Oliver hadn't allowed himself to feel anything but anger since that night. He hadn't allowed himself to truly break down since Diggle had to physically force him out of the warehouse before the whole thing exploded.

"I don't know if I can do this," she finally said mustering up her courage as she fully walked into the room. Oliver side and fully turned to face her and moment of silence passed between them.

"Me neither, Speedy." And it was apparent by the look on her face that that's not what she had been expecting. More tears pooled into her eyes as she rushed over and put her arms around him. He returned the hug, both seeking comfort in the other.

But he did know one thing. Someone was going to pay for the life that they took for him. Painfully.


	2. Living

7 Months Later

It was a late night in the foundry and Oliver reveled in the rare silence, sitting in the chair next to his quiver. Tonight was the first time he'd been alone, truly alone since the day before Felicity had died. He knew he should probably feel annoyed with that realization, but he knew he kind of deserved it since during the third week without her, he had taken her chair and murdered a table with it, so all he could feel was gratefulness because the lack of depressing space had stopped his mind from wandering to dangerous areas.

Even when he was alone, he was… haunted by memories and images of Felicity. So he took the silence for what it was. Peace. Of course he knew that any moment someone would bust through that door and ruin all of that, or he would think of that night and slip into a form of pure adrenaline and agitation. He let his mind go blank, free of all past traumas and future plans and just sat there.

And then the silence became deafening, because _she _would never let it get this quiet for this long. It would be right about now that he would hear her heels clacking down the metal stairs of Verdant in an enthusiasm only she should could pull off without it being entirely too intoxicating.

Immediately pulling himself from the thought and tried to think of happier times, times post- and pre-island. Letting Thea chase him around, rolling through town with Tommy, playful banter with the guys. And almost like a virus, those memories were replaced with other ones.

Thea looking up at him with so much hurt and disbelief. "I believed in you". Those words were his equivalent to "I'm disappointed in you" for the average teenager. Tommy's face, telling him what he had thought about his activity as "The Hood". Felicity's disappointment in how he had handled the Barry situation or how she had looked at him when Isobel had walked out of his room.

And that was it. All the emotions cracking into his head, like he expected them too.

Thea's heartbroken face at the realization that _he _was The Arrow. Tommy's last breath. His mother being stabbed right in front of him. Felicity's blue eyes closing. Diggle's face after Oliver failed to help him get Dead shot. Sara being forced under water after reaching for him. Hell, even Roy when he had been injected with the Mirakuru virus.

The urge to destroy something was too great now. He was pissed. He couldn't save Tommy or his mother and he sure as hell couldn't save Felicity. It was almost alarming how much control she had over him seven months after her death, but who was he kidding. He loved her. Had for a long time and had even told her. Right before pushing her away, stupidly thinking that that was going to keep her safe. Keep her from where she was exactly right now. Pushed her into the arms of another man. Encouraged her when she had doubts. All because he thought he could prevent this. He thought he could keep her safe.

He thought.

Angrily, he swiped all the content's off the table. Furiously he turned to the next one, prepared to turn it over but fell short as he huffed, looking at it. Fool of computers. Her computers. The chair in front of it, a plastic seat, replacing the one he had demolished because he was tired of just seeing it sitting there since no one would fucking sit in it.

And for a moment he could see her, sitting in her chair, twirling in it while grabbing whatever necklace she was wearing at the time, while updating them on whatever case they were on. He could see her doing that the night she died. And all too quickly it was over and she was replaced by a cheap and poor excuse of a computer chair that's only purpose was there for if he freaked out again and the rare occasion Diggle or Sara did the tech.

Dazed, Oliver turned to clean up the mess he just created. Maybe things were getting better… maybe he could… try to live without her.

* * *

When Diggle walked into the Foundry that night, you could say that he was surprised to see a new computer chair sitting exactly were Felicity's used to be and a completely calm Oliver working out on the salmon ladder, but to be completely honest he wasn't exactly sure what he expected- or wanted- to see. Spotting Diggle from his position on the ladder, Oliver dropped down from his work out and approached him, grabbing a towel on the way out.

"Hey, so I was thinking maybe we could start doing patrols again. The Glades has become too relaxed these past couple of months," Oliver suggested reaching for a towel.

"No more late night searches for Henry?" Diggle asked. He wasn't the kind of man to beat around the bush, and don't get him wrong, he was glad to see Oliver acting a little more like himself than like the machine he'd become since Felicity had died.

"No! We're still doing those, just… not as much." Oliver wasn't… ready to give up his search for Henry… but he could loosen the reigns a little. Maybe ease the plane field.

"I mean, Oliver, are you sure you're ready for this. This is a huge step. You haven't exactly been… all there these past couple of months," Diggle said. Oliver sighed, he normally was the one who had his words of wisdom at the ready like Roy's arsenal of weapons. Of course, Oliver had spent the last seven months ignoring and piece of advice he had given him in exchange for his own thoughts telling him to put in arrow in Paul Henry.

"I think… I need a distraction. I've been dealing with this… intense amount of anger for a… long time. And it's not even only just Felicity's death, but Tommy and my Mother. Hell, even Thea. The pressure just keeps adding up… and instead of having Felicity there to lean on… I've just been roaming… I think I want to stop roaming," Oliver confessed and after a moment of silence passed between them, each trying to see where this would take them, Diggle was the first to speak.

"Well, it's about damn time." Oliver gave a huff of a smile… his first… real smile since Felicity died and it was strange because normally it was her who pulled that reaction from him.

"So I guess, we should get started on those patrols."

"What patrols?" Thea said bounding down the stairs, not bothering to stop and look at them as she went to her respective case to grab her outfit.

"We're doing something different this time, we're going on a patrol," Oliver told her, turning around to face the way she just went.

"Really? That's great, Ollie! I'm proud of you!" Thea exclaimed showcasing her obvious excitement.

"I think it will be great for you," Diggle commented off from the side and Thea grinned. Maybe things could get better.

* * *

Slade wouldn't lie and say that he didn't spend a lot of his time staring at the bars of that cells, drifting in and out of thought. That really was the only thing to do. Sit there and think. Think about Oliver and his promise. All of the things that went wrong and how it could have been avoided. Slade didn't regret the decision to kill Oliver slowly. He deserved to know the true feeling of what Oliver had put Slade through when Shado died.

Now with the Mirakuru gone he felt Shado's death differently, a lot more sadness that anger.

Don't get him wrong, the anger was still there. He still hated Oliver, so he focused on that anger. He pushed all feelings aside to leave only room for anger because without it… He would be forced to feel everything Oliver had told him while he was still under the influence of the super drug. He would be forced to recognize how Shado would feel if she knew what he had done… what he was still ready to do. He forced himself not to regret all the decisions he had made.

No. What he regretted was looking into Oliver's team a lot more that he had.

Felicity Smoak. The girl that had fooled him so easily. Sending in someone to go get her, he had been reported that she had tried to escape. There was no way if she tried to escape that they had formed some other plan on the side… but they had, and her running was just her playing her part. The clever girl. Looking back, Slade kind of regretting not slitting her throat when he had the chance. Not because of his plans to hurt Oliver really, but because he was curious if the kid felt something for her at all.

There was a chance that he did, because Slade wasn't lying. He could see the appeal. Her quirk, her smart mouth, the ability (disability) to rattle off into the most off topic rants. He had only a short taste of what she was capable verbally and found that she had what everyone he had ever met had not… Light. At the time, he could see what Oliver would see in such a girl… But now, sitting in this cage, he was just curious if Oliver saw it too.

… It didn't matter. He would kill Felicity Smoak, if not for the fact that Oliver loved her, but the fact that she had one-upped him. He would be lying if he said it didn't hurt his pride a little. Not because, she was woman. No, Shado was a woman and had beat him in numerous of fights. He just didn't like being one-upped, not by anyone.

And just as the last thought ran through his head, he heard the metal door above starting to open… Probably his next supply of food.

But the person that dropped down from the metal door wasn't his meals for the month, No… it was the woman that had been haunting his thoughts besides Shado.

Felicity Smoak.

Okay this one was hard to write. I actually had nooooo Idea how I was going to end the Oliver Scene but I think I managed to pull it off. And I'm Sorry this one's short, but I didn't have a lot of time on it because school just started and I have TONS of hard classes and homework. Plus the only reason for this chapter is to show Oliver's devastation because the next chapter is going to show a more controlled Oliver and I don't want people to think that I think he would just deal with it if she died. Plus add the ALIVE Felicity. Obviously changed, but alive.


	3. Mystery

Slade stared at the face of the women who had a really important hand at the cause of where he was. She stood currently standing across from him, and he felt no shame marveling at the way her presence filled the barely above claustrophobic room. He silently commended her ability school her expression, allowing only an aloof air to highlight her aura. Her poster stood perfect; her height accentuate with her (admittedly) stylish and alluring heels; her hair, free of her traditional ponytail, fell in waves that cascaded down her black sweater. Even her attire appeared well pressed. Everything about her seemed off beat despite the fact that Slade really only had one conversation with her.

Slade's mouth went dry in anticipation of all the situations that could go down and the possibility of manipulating his way out of his prison, but there was something about the way she was looking at him that made him doubt this encounter would go in any direction but her own favor.

Felicity looked him up and down in the same way someone would as if they were trying to access you, and all Slade wanted to do was certify her verbally that he could still snap her neck with his bare hand. If only the words weren't stuck in his throat. Something in her eyes kept him quiet until he found what was left of his voice.

"Well well, I'm not sure exactly why you're here but surely the kid didn't sent you."

Felicity's eyebrow arched before she crossed her arms. Her blue eyes peered into his before her features cracked into a sly smirk.

"They said you went crazy… I was hoping they were wrong," was not what Slade expected her first words to him would be.

"Sweetheart, I assure you my mind is exactly where it's supposed to be."

"Then do tell. What the hell are you talking about? What kid?" Her voice did not change into a familiar flow of confusion, but instead formed into one that, for Slade, confirmed that she was testing him. A mental game. Slade was positive he didn't want to get into a war of mental capability with Felicity Smoak, but he answered nonetheless.

"I'm talking about Oliver."

"And I assume that means we have a mutual "friend" named Oliver I don't know about?" she questioned him as if he were a five year old with an imaginary friend.

He looked at her sharply, recoiling form the bars of his cell. She was joking. There was no way that she was an amnesiac, and if she was, she had no reason to be standing in front of him.

Her face split into a pernicious smile, obviously enjoying the course of confusion that fell over him.

"Who are you?" The question shouldn't have had to been asked. This _was_ Felicity Smoak. He had done enough research to know she was an only child.

"No known name. People have stuck to calling me Cinder."

So she was an amnesiac. Cinder was a mystery he shouldn't want to solve, but maybe this could work out in his favor.

"Okay, Cinder," He said testing the name on his tongue, he preferred Felicity," What do you want from me, exactly?"

She reached behind herself and pulled out a file he was sure she kept tucked in her pants. Opening it up, she shows him the picture of a man. A normal looking business man that Slade didn't recognize.

"This man is Paul Henry. I have reason to believe that he's a link to my past."

"And let me guess, you want to find him so you can know where you came from?" It was his turn to smirk at the childish notion.

Felicity (Cinder?) adjusted her stance, looking at him with a face devoid of emotion/amusement.

"…Not exactly. You see, Mr. Henry here is the only connection that I have to my past… I want that connection shredded."

"And you want me to kill him?" he liked were this was going. Using an amnesiac Felicity to get out of confinement. Of course when he did, he would just snap her neck and use whatever transportation she had to get here.

"Actually, I want to set his skin on fire myself." pyromaniac much," I need you to be my distraction. For whatever reason, The Arrow has been searching for him relentlessly, and I read that you have some unfinished business with him. You start a war, I kill Henry and leave you to your devices."

"You're afraid of the arrow?" He questioned ignoring the unfamiliarity and plane wrongness at her willingness to kill. Was this the same girl who had talked Oliver into not killing him?

Another smirk adorned her face.

"There are… certain parts of my mind that find The Arrow… too curious to kill… myself. I have no problems …unleashing you on him."

Slade's jaw clicked at the comparison of him to a dog, but he stayed quiet. Felicity, after all, did hold the key to his cage.

"So tell me, Mr. Wilson. Are you in?"

Not wanting to seem anxious, Slade decided to play his part in whatever game Felicity had just set him in.

"Are you saying you're going to let me kill The Arrow so you can kill some lowly pawn?"

"He maybe a pawn to you, but to me he has everything to do with who I am. I want him dead. I also want this to go down with no interruption. You seemed like the likely candidate," She answered, tilting her head.

"Well then go ahead, let me out." It came out a lot more threatening than he intended, but playing nice with Felicity, amnesiac or not, was touch. Good thing about the lack of Mirakuru in his system was that he was sure he would reveal something in the blind rage.

That was how she beat him the first time.

What happened next, swayed Slade's decision to try and kill the girl at first chance. His eyebrows furrowed as he tried to process the fact that Felicity's blue eyes were over crowded with a sinister amber. Slowly, from the tip of her left hand fingers to her elbow, a deep blood red gloved her skin as flames licked the surface of her faced down palms and the tips of her fingers.

He really had lost his mind.

It didn't matter because the next thing he knew, he's being thrown back and there's a ringing in his ear.

Goddamit. He was gonna die fighting alongside Felicity.

Cinder glared at Slade Wilson as she circled him. He was currently on their work out mate, lying on his back in agony. Maybe she had made a mistake. Maybe the man was nothing without his little steroid. She made sure to tell him as such emphasizing the venom leaking through her through.

Her anger increased, this man was beginning to make her doubt this plan. And she never doubted her plans. That's what she had been taught from the moment she had opened her eyes to this world… for the second time.

It was hard not use her hands to drive it into his torso in a mass transfer of annoyance, but she resisted as best she could because she actually believed that he could help her. At first she hadn't come up with a good enough reason for her desire to eliminate The Arrow from herself without actually doing the deed herself, but the more she looked into his history the more intrigued she was to keep him… alive? Was that the right word? Did she want him to stay alive?

His existence was an interesting one, but keep him alive by sending his old nemesis seemed like a stretch of a plan. Slade was cunning and possibly capable of coming up with some secret agenda behind her back. She didn't trust the man. She didn't trust anyone. She expected, and she expected Slade to take care of the vigilante. She also expected for Slade to use her amnesia against her some way or somehow.

Telling him was as far of stretch as she was going to go. And after this mission was done, she was going to kill him herself. Tying up loose ends and all.

"You need to relax your muscles if you expect me not to use that against you."

"Excuse me if I didn't believe in your ability to do anything but light candles," Slade sniffed. Felicity smirked, the frustration easing from her. She liked Slade and his tongue but she refused to say it had anything to do with her distinct lack of friends these past couple of months.

"So, what's your story…Cinder?" She could tell that Slade was still having a hard time calling her anything but… Felicity? Felicity was a name familiar to her but she was absolutely sure it wasn't her name. Her name had been Meghan before she had died… or so she had concluded. Meghan Harper. A name she had given to herself from snippets of names she had heard while lying on that unforgiving medical table when she had woken up.

**Meghan…Que…gle…Harper. **

"My story starts at the age of 27. I'm 28. It's a short one."

"A story nonetheless." Even though Slade was trying to appear nonchalant, Felicity could almost _smell_ the eagerness and she was no idiot. She had no trust for Slade Wilson. No, she trusted that Slade hated the Arrow enough to where he would get the job done. The Arrow would be dealt with, dead or alive.

She regarded him coolly.

"Mr. Wilson," she started, taking a step toward him, shoulders high and one eyebrow arched considerably," don't mistake our relationship. We are not friends. We are barely even comrades. The only thing you mean to me is as a pawn. Do you understand?"

Slade seemed to visibly bristle at that and looked like he wished for his sword by his side to ram into her stomach, but he hadn't earned that. He was still too weak. But he would be ready… when she needed him. Or she would just find someone else.

Oliver walked into the QC offices, stressed back and purposeful walk like had done some many times before. He paused as he entered, as he always did now these days, and looked at the only two desk there. Both of them Felicity's. This whole office was invaded with Felicity's presence and if he closed his eyes he could probably hear her heels clacking along the floor, or the soft hum of her music that would blast through her head phones.

After Felicity…left, Roy left Central City. Oliver would be lying to himself if he said the other vigilante didn't care _a lot _for her but he just chose not to think about it. Oliver was the current acting CEO. The job had always been hard without Felicity there but it was becoming easier on his emotional strength a little every day.

God he wished she was there.


End file.
